Wednesday, April 25, 2012

THE SILVER LINING...

          In the midst of all this sadness, Woof Connections DOES have something wonderful to report.  Our very good friend, Emily A (Co-Founder of Wish Upon a Paw in Wisconsin), used some of her AMAZING talents to help us once again.  Emily's "real job" (lol) involves helping small and medium- sized businesses as well as nonprofit organizations with marketing techniques.  Check out the company she works for, e-Impact Marketing Solutions, at  http://www.eimpactmarketingsolutions.com/.  
            Emily has designed the Woof Connections Website for us PRO BONO!  Yes I said it..she took time out of her busy life to help Kevin and I start an official website at NO CHARGE to us. We are truly humbled by her generosity. In fact, she went so far as to pay our hosting fees too!!!  Thank you just doesn't really cut it.  If you met Emily in person, you would know that she is not only gorgeous, but she is one of the most geniunely caring people in the world.   

So let us formally introduce our new website....drumroll please.... www.woofconnections.org
We still need to add "Happy Tails" as well as some more updates, a logo, etc. but we just couldn't wait any longer! 

Take a look at some of the Websites that Emily has designed- they are AWESOME!
wishuponapaw.org
aahneenah.com
precisionlandscaping.org
getconnectedcounseling.com
yellowwoodchiro.com
communitylivingsolutions.com
byo-app.com

If you are interested in hiring Emily for your business or nonprofit group, contact Emily at emily@eimpactmarketingsolutions.com.   She offers HUGE discounts to nonprofit animal welfare groups so drop her an email!


We also would like to thank Emily as well as Natalie (co-founder of WISH) once again for their generous donation of Revolution to help treat the dogs in Arkansas for mange, fleas, ticks, etc..  Woof Connections received the shipment yesterday and we are so grateful to you for helping us out! 

Natalie and her husband, Alex, are phenomenal photographers as well.  Please check out their website: http://alexandnatalie.com/  They too are HUGE animal lovers who spend lots of time helping homeless animals so please support their work!

Lastly, we want to thank our other very good friends Jaime (Canine Adoption Coordinator for WISH) and her significant other, Glen, for working behind the scenes to help us place our doggies in the Wisconsin area whenever possible (including going on home visits whenever we ask!).  We love all of you so very much!

DEVASTATING NEWS TO SAY THE LEAST

Many of you who have joined the Open Group on Facebook, Proctor (Arkansas) Dogs in Need Group already know this, but for those of you who do not, please read the post I copied from the Group Page below...

4/24/12: We have some very very sad news to report. Nick called me to let me know that the local Animal Control was called out to Mr. B's property yesterday (4/23) per the request of the County Sheriff's Department. Apparently an officer was out on the property on another matter and noticed all the dogs. He called the Sheriff's Dept who in turn called the local Shelter to go out an pick them up. None of us were there, but they apparently picked up 16 dogs yesterday. Nick said when he went there today, Animal Control was there again and picked up another 4 today.
       I immediately called the Shelter manager to let her know that our Group was trying to help Mr B with those dogs and not to let anything happen to them. I then received the devastating news that it was too late...due to an already overcrowded shelter, they were given the orders to euthanize all of the dogs. I for one and completely heartbroken to say the least. The Shelter Manager told me there are 4 at the shelter right now that they picked up today and to contact the County Sheriff's Dept to let them know what was going on. Nick and I met with the Chief Investigator this afternoon.
         Long story short...this was a very sad and unfortunate event. Mr. B signed all the dogs over (hence no hold time) because he was told he would face felony cruelty charges if he didn't. The County did not know we were helping Mr B, nor did the shelter. Yes, the shelter was contacted about a month ago (both in this area were) and at that time neither would help. However, because it was now considered a cruelty case, the shelter had no choice but to go out to the property and take the dogs.          
        We are completely sickened by the whole thing. Apparently Mr B was told that he could keep 3 dogs. There are approx 12 dogs still out there they think (including Blue Eyes who has not yet given birth). The plan was for them (the Shelter) to pick up the rest of them on Thur. The Chief Investigator has promised us that nothing will happen to the 4 at the shelter and that they would not attempt to pick up any more so that we could have some time to work on rescue for the remaining dogs. He is supposed to call the Shelter and straighten everything out. Nick and I reviewed the goals with the Chief Inv. and he is willing to work with us provided we keep a check on the whole situation. We only have approximately 1 month to get a majority of the dogs out and into rescue.
          What we plan to do is go back out there and take pics of the dogs that remain on the property. We want to move forward with the plan to bring pens out there so that we can spay and neuter all the remaining dogs. We believe the that 4 from the shelter MAY be released back to MR B so that we can work on their rescue as well (we won't know for sure until tomorrow). The Revolution arrived today (sadly)...we can start to treat them for mange when we go out to set up the pens. We will then be BEGGING for some rescues to take some of the remaining dogs before something happens again so please keep spreading the word. The remaining dogs still need decent shelter so we definitely can still use the pallets, etc. We can better assess the water situation when we go out there again too. We will still need food on an ongoing basis because we promised to make sure the dogs would be well fed.
             This has been a very difficult day to say that least. I am sure that Mr B is beyond devastated as well. We want to thank everyone for their continued support in this endeavor. Many innocent lives were lost today, but let's please not let them die in vain. We can still make a difference. Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Update 4/25/12: We have heard more devastating news. Apparently the 4 dogs that were picked up yesterday were euthanized as well. Not sure exactly what changed between when Nick and I left the Sheriff's office, but we WILL get to the bottom of it. We know that several of the remaining dogs will need rescue IMMEDIATELY so PLEASE ask around. As we said before, we have Revolution to treat their mange and will provide food if someone could take one or more in to keep them safe in the meantime.   We WILL contact the media if needed, but we are hoping that all parties are willing to work together to help Mr. B and his ramaining dogs.  We will know more tomorrow.  Prayers needed on this one folks...     
    
        R.I.P. to the precious fur- souls who lost their lives.  We are so sorry that humans failed you. 

Sunday, April 22, 2012

UPDATE ON THE ARKANSAS DOG SITUATION...


Many of you may already know the situation Woof Connections is currently trying to help with in Arkansas, but for those of you who do not, here is the summary.  We were contacted by Kevin's niece, Wendy, about a large pack of dogs (some apparently starving) on some property not far from us.  Wendy's friends, Robin and Nick,  took a picture of some of the dogs that Wendy later "tagged" Allie in on Facebook. 
Well of course we knew we had to help in some way.  Over the past few weeks, a team of us (Kevin, Allie, Wendy C., Robin C., Nick, C., Lauren Y.,  Brian Y., and Kelly S.) have befriended the owner of the dogs, Mr. B.  The team of course goes beyond these people, but these are the ones on the "front lines" at this point (will pay respect to the others in a bit).  Mr. B has a good heart, but he just didn't have enough funds to spay and neuter the dogs so it quickly became out of control.  There are currently at least 35 adult dogs and several puppies (that we could see anyway) on the property. 

Some people do not realize this, but people often dump dogs in the country when they are no longer wanted.  In this area, there is no animal control facility that will claim responsibility for the strays in the country because they are considered "county dogs".  Therefore, the numbers multiply quickly or sadly, the dogs just do not make it.  Mr. B tries to care for many of the unwanted strays.  We must be clear here...we are NOT going to belittle Mr. B.  Yes, we realize that the conditions on this property are far from ideal.  We are there to help at this point.  However, we hope that Mr. B will learn to trust us in time and will allow us to re-home some of the dogs he is understandably attached to.  He has already allowed us to take several puppies and a pregnant dog so far. 



Kevin and Wendy feeding the troops


Jo (Wendy's daughter) and Kelly meeting the crew

Jo, Wendy, and Kelly

Our immediate goals include building proper shelters for the dogs as well as some smaller pens.  We plan to spay the females as soon as we can get smaller pens built for recovery areas and secure the appointments. Most of these dogs have not been socialized with other people very much, so they will be flight risks.  We are needing 10 x 10 pens, fencing material, large dogs houses, and other materials necessary to make this come together. 

After the "pack" can be separated into smaller groups to make it more manageable, we plan to start treating them for mange with Revolution.  It appears they all have sarcoptic mange and are absolutely miserable right now (it is caused by mites that burrow under the skin...they itch tremendously).  We want to thank our good friends at Wish Upon a Paw in Wisconsin, Emily Aand Natalie N., for their VERY GENEROUS donation!  They are in the process of sending us an entire case of Revolution (saving us nearly $600)!  Check out Wish Upon a Paw's wonderful rescue work at WISH (click here)!

We are waiting on some information regarding low-cost spay/neuters in Memphis and surrounding areas.   We could really use some experienced dog rescuers to help transport the females to their appointments in Memphis.  Allie is generally available to pick them up, but since most of us work full-time, we have a very difficult time getting them to their appointments in the morning.  If you can help, please call Allie at 901-240-9848 or email allieot98@yahoo.com  We could use some large crates for transport as well (we will certainly return them when we finish). 


Some very happy (and full) doggies today!  You can imagine the amount of dog food required daily to feed these poor babies!



Woof Connections would like to thank Shelley S. of DOGS ONLY (click here) in AR, who INCREDIBLY has offered to help pay to spay most of the females!!!!  We are also grateful to Ruth E. of  PROJECT SNAP (click here) in MO for helping to coordinate some of this "rescue" stuff and for starting a Chip In to help pay for the vetting of these pups.  Special thanks to Elizabeth W. with  KEG ANIMAL RESCUE (click here)  for taking in some of the puppies as well as Mama dog, Spotty!  We appreciate fosters Carolyn and Nancy so very much as well!  Without foster homes, dogs like Spotty would be still wondering when her next meal would be and where she could have her babies safely.  It definitely takes a village and we are so proud to be part of such a great team!  Lastly, we are humbled by the generosity of all of you who have donated to this cause- THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts.

If you are able to help financially with vetting, please contribute to the CHIP IN for Medical Care AR Pups (click here).  If you live in the Memphis/West Memphis (or nearby) areas and would like to help in other ways, please contact Allie!  To reiterate....in addition to monetary donations, we desperately need donations of good quality DOG FOOD, LARGE DOG HOUSES, PLYWOOD (and other building materials), PALLETS, T-STAKES, CHAIN LINK (or Chain Link Dog Pens), STRAW, and anything else you think would help these pups.  You can email info@woofconnections.org or call Allie at 901-240-9848 if you'd like to help!  Here are some of the fur-babies we can help with your support:

PLEASE join us on Facebook on our Open Group, PROCTOR (ARKANSAS) DOGS IN NEED (click here) for the latest updates!